Is this country under a curse?

THE JTF has taken the bull of sectarian violence in the North East of Nigeria by the horns. We pray daily for them, for Gods favour. May their zeal never wane.

Our nation had for a long time taken terrorism for granted until this stage where we now live with it. Learning to live with terror is a horrible thing, and that’s what we must now do since we appear not to be ready to deal with the evil from its roots.

We are a nation of mostly Christians who say we love God and our neighbour, but right under our noses politicians steal from government coffers, flaunt such wealth before us even in churches and we pray for their long life.

We are also mostly Muslims, who say Allah does not support violence, but under our noses our relations kill and maim innocent strangers and our neighbours; we conceal their identities, waiting and working to use the sufferings inflicted upon people through violence to attract government largesse.

My Pastor knows that his congregants are deprived, that someone in government is sitting on what belongs to them, but he asks them to pray and fast, do early morning cries and night vigils; he prophesies to them, but by noon time, he visits his politician friends in power, prays for them, knowing fully well that they are all worse than armed robbers.

The Bible enjoins us to pray for our leaders, so why don’t we pray that all thieves be caught and shamed, and that the wealth of this country becomes trouble in the hands of all that have stolen from it?

My Pastor’s friends in power, steal the money, use that same ill-gotten wealth to intimidate and harass us, while my Pastor boasts to us that he was visited by the thief. My Pastor is not a good man!

My good friend is a Muslim Alfa, or Mullah, he preaches strong messages from the Holy Quran in his big mosque and has huge followership.

He tells me that Allah supports fairness, honesty, hard work, and justice, and I am convinced, but many a time my friend visits his members and tribes men in power, they connive to foster lack of development in their area hoping to blame the “infidels” from the other zones of the country for their plight.

They destroy their own, take away their money, keep them perpetually poor, and feed them with the opium of the blame game, blaming the education from ‘infidels’. My Alfa friend is not a good man!

How can a nation where their religious leaders have been compromised prosper? How can a nation that professes God, confesses God, but cheats in the name of God, steals in the name of God, deceives each other in the name of God, and kills in the name of God, be at peace ?

It will be hard in my opinion because God sees our hearts, and never sleeps nor slumbers. Will God compromise his standards for Nigeria? God does not change, and will not do so because of Nigeria.

The two main ruling religions in Nigeria, Christianity and Islam, believe that God created man, God is God of Equity, fair play and justice, God wants us all to love each other as we love ourselves, but there’s not one aspect of the Nigerian life you look into and see that type of fear of God by our leaders.

On security for example, the JTF, SSS, NPF, NSCDC are all toiling round the clock to solve the challenges of Boko haram. Life has become rough for these men because of our wickedness.

It is difficult to convince any one that our Northern leaders do not know who Boko Haram is, and that we cannot infiltrate all Governors, Senators, to compile those of them that hobnob with the sect. We surely know what to do, but we are not doing it because the country is under a curse! There must be a curse.

The book of Amos, Chapter 8,verses 3 to 7,the Bible (NIV) declares: “In that day declares the sovereign Lord, The songs in the temple will turn to wailing, many many bodies- flung every where ! Silence!

Hear this, you who trample the needy, and do away with the poor of the land saying- when will the new moon be over that we may sell grain and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?

Skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy with a pair of sandals, selling the sweepings with the wheat.

The Lord have sworn by the pride of Jacob, I will not forget anything they have done”.This nation has offended and is offending God, and the curse must follow! A few facts on the effects of this curse include that:

We are the seventh largest oil producing nation in this world, but we don’t have working refineries and fuel to run our cars, generators and machines.

We have enormous agricultural potentials and resources, but we spend billions of dollars on food imports; we are over 160 million people, but we do not trust each other, the demon of ethnicity has hindered us.

We have huge educational resources with over 40% active youth population, but we send them to universities and tertiary education institutions to condition them for four to six years depending on the course, to learn to accept life without electric power, good hostels, library, and research laboratories, good roads, health care and government failure as the way forward, they graduate and remain grateful to the politician for owning one Okada.

We are endowed with hardworking and knowledgeable health care professionals but we run overseas to treat headaches, and diagnose minor tumors and surgeries. Our neighbours to the north: Mali, Somalia, Sudan, are all terrorists dens and hives, but we leave our borders as porous as ever.

Our Police Force has been conditioned through 33 years of military rule, and 11 years of lies, and big- big grammar under democracy, to accept their lot, to fight more and better equipped criminals and terrorists.

Our Police Force has been conditioned to be ineffective, because we know that an effective police force will investigate our numerous crimes against the poor of the land, and bring us all to book.

Our leaders jostle and clamor for Police security aides and cover because they all know that they have taken what does not belong to them; We have all the resources from God, to keep and maintain less than 4% unemployment rate, but our graduates ride Okada and Keke NA PEPE with pride, we make laws to confiscate their okadas, and destroy their legitimate property in a situation where unemployment rate hovers around 35%; Our mega Pentecostal Churches are led by people who benefited from free education in one form or the other, but today, they build schools that their members children can hardly afford, they raise money from the congregation, build schools which only “unbelievers” can afford to pay for their children.

Our bankers pick up awards from overseas, they declare huge mouthwatering profits, but industries are leaving the country, lending is only short term in support of services and trading; We supply electric power to nations around us who do not experience power outage, while we have children who clap when they find power in their houses, yet some governors are determined to scuttle the plan to give their people power. You tell me God is happy? I disagree, He cannot be happy with us!

The two mirrors for any society is in their law enforcement agencies led by the Police, and the conduct of their religious leaders. Where these two have been conditioned or compromised by their leaders, suffering will abound as it is in Nigeria, and Gods judgment will be imminent!